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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

Stacy
Schiff ‘s Cleopatra:
a Life is simply the most enjoyable biography that I have ever read. This book was both enormously entertaining as well as very informative.
Schiff is an extraordinary writer. In terms of historical scholarship, her research
and attention to detail are unparalleled and she is an excellent crafter of
prose. This is my second Schiff book, her A
Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America is also a
highly recommended work.

I
loved this book so much for three reasons. First, the intrigue, politics and personalities
involved are fascinating. Cleopatra is but one player on a world stage that
included Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony, Octavius, King Herrord, Cicero and many
other lesser known personas who maneuvered, intrigued, charmed and warred with
one another for enormous stakes that included the lives and deaths of the
players as well as control over vast wealth and portions of the earth.

Secondly,
while familiar with many fictional accounts of these times and people, this is
the first time that I have delved into information that was even close to historically
accurate. Aside from brief mentions in a college textbook, I have only been
exposed to fictional accounts of this era from sources such as Shakespeare as
well as television shows and films.

Finally, as eluded to earlier, Schiff is a great writer whose
books are a joy to read. Her prose is often poetic and she is a mistress of
allegory and clever allusions. She is extremely witty and is often bitingly
direct and ironic. For instance, below are a few quotes from various parts of
her narrative,

“And in the absence of facts,
myth rushes in, the kudzu of history”

“Cleopatra descended
from a long line of murderers and faithfully upheld the family tradition but
was, for her time and place, remarkably well behaved.”

“Cicero, was the Roman John Adams”

Schiff
explains that this biography of the Egyptian Queen was a little problematic, as
available sources were both scarce and suspect. As a result, through no fault
of the author, there are missing pieces here. We get some idea of Cleopatra’s
personality, but very little of it is first hand and it is full of gaps. Though
very literate, no actual writing by the Egyptian Queen herself has survived. Furthermore,
very little writing about her by fellow Egyptians remains and most of the
available sources are Roman. There is, unfortunately, a sense that certain
truths about this woman will remain forever unknown. For instance, Cleopatra’s
actions during the battle of Actium, which would shed an enormous amount of
light upon the Queen’s character, are maddeningly obscured by a lack of facts.

In
addition, as Schiff herself points out, we need to be weary of “facts” and
stories that have been presented about the Egyptian monarch. Many of the
sources that are available are those of Roman “historians”, such as Cassius Dio
and Plutarch, who were often more interested in pushing political and
misogynistic agendas as well as telling “good stories” as opposed to getting
their facts correct.

Cleopatra VII
Philopato, born in 69 BC as an heir
to the Ptolemy throne. This family
of Greeks was descended from Alexander the Great and had ruled Egypt for
centuries. Throughout the years down though Cleopatra’s time, Ptolemaic
siblings married and murdered one another in a dizzying battle for power and succession.
Cleopatra herself was successively married to two of her brothers and was directly
responsible for the murders of multiple siblings including her second husband -
brother. Of course these same siblings were attempting to murder and usurp her.

Cleopatra ruled
Egypt at a time when the superpower Rome was gobbling up kingdoms and empires
throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond. While still an independent
nation in her time, Egypt was more or less reduced to that of a client state of
Rome. However, due to its enormous wealth, it was a satellite nation that possessed
enormous power and influence in the Roman world.

Both Rome and Egypt were in the constant throws
of complex and often bloody power struggles. These contests often intertwined
with one another and involved intricate connections between people and events
starching over enormous distances.

As a Ptolemaic heir Cleopatra was considered to be
a human incarnation of a Goddess. She was extremely educated as well as literate.
Her studies were not only scholastic, but included what we would describe today
as standards of social grace befitting a queen and a human deity. In a world
where royal persons usurped and murdered children, parents, siblings and spouses,
it was unusual that Cleopatra maintained a loyalty and closeness to her father,
the on again off again ruler of Egypt.

After the death of her father, Cleopatra married
her brother Ptolemy XIII and, for a short period, the two co – ruled Egypt. Civil
war soon broke out between the sibling – spouses. While in exile, Cleopatra
ingratiated herself with Julius Caesar. The two became lovers and Caesar subsequently allied his Roman forces with the queen. Ptolemy XIII was
eventually defeated and may have been killed in battle.

Cleopatra bore a son whose father was accepted at
the time to be Caesar’s. Throughout Caesar ‘s reign as leader of Rome, Cleopatra consolidated
her power. Under her control, Egypt enjoyed a period of unusual stability and
prospered. After Caesar ‘s assassination
Rome descended into complex and multisided civil wars. Cleopatra eventually
allied herself with Marc Anthony who also became her lover and who sired
additional children with her.

The armies and navies of Octavius eventually
defeated Antony and Cleopatra’s forces. As Egypt was overrun first Marc Antony
took his own life followed by Cleopatra shortly thereafter.

There are so many directions that this marvelous
book takes us into. I want to talk about what I would define as Cleopatra’s
competence. In a world of rulers who often were far better at gaining power
then actually ruling, Schiff paints Cleopatra as an extremely able head of
state.

Schiff describes the Egypt of the time as possessing
a controlled economy somewhat comparable to that Soviet Union. During
Cleopatra’s reign the land prospered economically. Beholden to the flood cycles
of the Nile, Egypt historically gyrated between periods of prosperity that were
followed by periods of famine. Cleopatra deftly managed food and other
resources during the hard times to lessen the misery of her people. During the
prosperous times the nation thrived under her leadership.

She was also a great patron of arts and science. Egypt’s
capital, Alexandria, may have been the world’s greatest city at that time. It
was the center of culture, art and learning. It had, however, been experiencing
a period of decline in the proceeding century. Innovation in the fields of art
and science rebounded and blossomed during Cleopatra’s time thanks to her
efforts.

She was extremely popular with the Egyptian
people. Schiff credits this esteem to a combination of economic success, an
embrace of Egyptian native religion often ignored by her predecessors, as well as
a strong dose of charisma and propaganda.

Cleopatra also expertly played the world game of
influence and power. While ultimately Egypt was subdued and absorbed by Rome,
this end result was likely inevitable. During her reign, the Egyptian sovereign
took an Egypt that had been threatened and was in decline and expanded its
wealth, territory and influence. Once she consolidated her power the country
also enjoyed an uncharacteristic period that was distinguished by the absence
of dynastic disputes and civil war.

Part of Cleopatra’s success on the international
stage was attributed to what Roman historians and writers labeled as scheming
and seduction. Schiff reminds us that these writers described similarly successful
men who employed nearly identical strategies as possessing great skill, intelligence
and virtue. An accomplished female ruler
was labeled as lascivious and cunning. Her male counterparts were lauded as
great men.

Schiff does point to strong evidence that while
not a classical beauty, Cleopatra was very good at charming and flattering
people and therefore had a knack of talking others into seeing things her way.
Whether her charm was related to an erotic charisma is far from clear. While
the Egyptian monarch certainly did have sexual affairs with powerful men, her
male peers, including Caesar, Antony and Octavius, had scores of liaisons with
both female and, at times, male royal personages all over Europe, Asia and
Africa. Little criticism was ever leveled against these men for their promiscuity.

While she did have affairs with both Caesar and Marc Antony, she was not the manipulating
seductress portrayed by her detractors. Instead she was an intelligent and skilled
leader contending for the interests of herself as well as that of Egypt. While
Schiff concedes that Caesar may have acted against his own best interests as a result of being
smitten with her, Cleopatra’s alliance with Anthony made perfect strategic
sense for both leaders and neither was under the other’s sensual “control”, at
least early on.

It is possible that later in the relationship
Antony may, from his point of view, have made some poor strategic decisions
that benefitted Cleopatra. This is not entirely clear however. Conversely, Schiff
postulates that very late in the game it may have been in Cleopatra’s best
interest to jettison an Antony whose fortunes were in decline. Despite the distorted
interpretations of Roman historians, this betrayal likely never occurred.

Finally, even in the method of her death did
Cleopatra show great competence. She carefully planned the event for at least
several months. Schiff reports that the famous story that the deed was
accomplished with the aid of a poisonous snake is almost certainly apocryphal.
The Egyptian monarch likely used a poison that did not cause convulsions or
other horrendous “side effects”. Instead she likely just went to sleep and
died.

Lest I be accused of pouring too much praise on
the Egyptian Queen, like her peers such as Marc Antony, Caesar, Octavius, etc.,
Cleopatra, by today’s standards, cannot be described as a moral person. For
instance, she ordered multiple executions, was complacent in enslaving large
numbers of people, used prisoners as experimental subjects in her quest to find
a painless and effective poison for herself, just to name a few of her
transgressions. While these actions were consistent with the leadership of many
nations and empires of the day, they should not be glossed over.

Once again, I have not focused on all of the
interesting ideas presented in this biography. Readers will find many
additional important and compelling themes. Schiff has indeed written a book
that is both accessible and entertaining. Cleopatra:
a Life successfully throws some
light on the enigmatic story of one of the most famous and intriguing women who
ever lived. Anyone with even a casual interest in Cleopatra or the era in which
she lived will find this biography both engaging and enlightening.

22 comments:

Hi Guy - I actually thing that the cover is OK, but not great. It is a little understated. By by hiding her face, I think that it exemplifies that fact that we know something about this woman, but due to the gaps in the historical record, there is still great mystery.

I'm really glad you reviewed this. I liked the review a lot and it helped me make up my mind, I think I'd love to read it.She is such a fascinating character and it seems the complexitiy is well captured and I certainly don't mind that the writing is as good as it is.About the cover. I would have agreed with Guy a while ago but recently I found out something a bit weird. On YA and genre novels you find often pictures of people and you always see the face. Whenever a book is more literary and they still use a photo, the face or the whole head is missing. Once you start to pay attention it's interesting to see. Not sure how conscious this is. In any case, this cover would support my theory.

Hi Caroline - Think that you would like this book as it really was several cuts above the typical historical biography. I should note however that poking around internet reviews I find that opinion on Schiff's writing is very divided. There seem to be a lot of people who do not like her style. As noted I love her prose.

I found a piece from CBS news describing how this particular cover started a trend of book covers showing women with turned heads. The link is here:

This is an excellent and very informative review. You have given us a highly detailed look at the life of this historical figure, as presented by a writer who has done her research well. I was totally fascinated as I read your review, which is a biographical account in itself!

You know, when I think of Cleopatra, it's Elizabeth Taylor who inevitably comes to mind. I've always disliked her, because of the way she took up and discarded men. From what you've written here (and your information comes from Schiff), it sure sounds like Cleopatra was even more unsavory!

However, I do applaud you for pointing out the misogynistic bias of those who criticized Cleopatra at the time. There were men who were just as, if not even more, promiscuous, as you stated, and yet, they were always praised, regardless!

Thanks for such a terrific review!! : )

P.S. As for Caroline's comment about cover models on adult vs. YA fiction covers, I haven't found it to be true. There are many book covers for young adult books in which the heroine has her back to the viewer, or her face cannot be seen, in one way or another. Check out the covers of the "Fallen" series, by Lauren Kate, as well as "Winter's Shadow" and "Winter's Light", by M.J. Hearle. There's one YA book featured in my sidebar, titled "Dark Destiny", on which the heroine has her back to the viewer. I read a lot of YA novels, so I know... : )

I've never really paid much attention to Cleopatra because I think that she and her life have been glamourised and sensationalised to a ridiculous degree, but this sounds as though it's a more realistic rendering of her life and times. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Hi Maria - The Elizabeth Taylor - Cleopatra connection is so strong in our society. Sometimes when I picture Cleopatra I actually picture Elizabeth Taylor! The bias going down through present day is amazing. Based upon Schiff's text Caesar likely had more relations then Cleopatra, yet we do not remember him as the great seducer.

It seems not only that some people of the era were unsavory, apparently anyone who rose to a position of power in those days was pretty bad.

I wonder, if anyone knows of a book cover with a woman whose head is turned as to obscure her face, that came out before this book.

Hi Violet - One interesting thing about the sensationalized was that it also occurred in Cleopatra's time. As per Schiff both Cleopatra and Marc Antony were some of the world's first superstars. They projected a glamorized image throughout the ancient world.

One fascination side note. According to Schiff Cleopatra was somewhat popular with Egypt's jewish population as she often favored them as a group for strategic reasons. A few actually believed at the time that it would be Cleopatra and Marc Antony's union who would produce the long awaited Messiah.

I think, by nature, biographies are problematic for any number of reasons. that is why I have trouble with the term "definitive." As if a life can be summed up, encased in lucite and deemed understood.

That being said, thank you for bringing this title to my attention. I've been looking for a good historical biography. I especially like biographies that ambitiously delve deep into the past. It takes a brave writer to tackle a subject so distant.

If you haven't read it already, Will in the World by Jeremy Greenblatt is an excellent biography of William Shakespeare.

Hi Ryan - I agree with biographies so I think that it is best to read several on the same person in order to achieve understanding. I am a bit of a history buff so I tend to look at these as history books. Even with history books however, it is beneficial to get alternate views.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have not read Will in the World but I love Shakespeare so I will likely get to that one.

Hi Jennifer - That is a great line! Schiff's Benjamin Franklin book also has some great quotes.

I agree about the myths being so unnecessary, If you recall, one of Schiff's points were that some of the myths were created based upon sexiest thinking. The reasoning went that a female monarch could not be intelligent and competent. Any success must be attributed to being a sorceress, a seductress, etc.

I read somewhere that no one knows what she really looked like (hence the cover with her face turned). It looks a little romancey though (the cover gives that impression) but it's sold well so what do I know?

Hi Guy - According to Schiff, Cleopatra's appearance is very much a mystery. Schiff does conclude from sketchy sources that she was not perceived to be very beautiful.

I agree that the cover could work for a romance novel. Indeed as per Maria's comments as well as the piece that I linked to above, subsequent to Schiff's book being published, many romance and YA books were influenced by this cover.

As for the Romance theme in the book, Cleopatra's affairs with Caesar and Marc Antony do play a prominent part in her story. The focus on these affairs might appeal to a fan of romantic literature. Beyond that however, Schiff is a solid historian who really seems to present a balanced and nuanced account of the facts.

Having read a fair amount of history, there are so many figures, especially leaders of nations, who did many admirable things, but who also committed what I would call immoral acts. The world is a very complicated place!

Hi VB - Thanks for the compliment . Since I like to talk about themes and philosophies of authors more then I like to really review, sometimes I do give a bit too much away. I try to warn readers beforehand however.